Shinigami?
by ryuukai04
Summary: During the Winter War, Rukia plays a big role in the death of Sousuke Aizen. What happens when this involvement is the one that gets her in trouble the next time? TOTALLY RUKIA-CENTRIC cause I'm addicted to her! This is my first fanfic so be nice!
1. The Beginnings

Shinigami?

CHAPTER 1 - The Beginnings

* * *

_Ichigo ran up to Aizen, sword in tow._

_Ichigo and Aizen had been fighting for a while now and both had sustained several injuries. Aizen had it worse than Ichigo who was only sporting a few cuts here and there. Aizen on the other hand, was covered in cuts all over his body and could barely stand._

'_Fucking shinigami.' Aizen thought as the orange-haired youth moved towards him to finish him off. 'Maybe now's the time to launch the ace in my cards,' he smirked internally and spotted the youngest Kuchiki preparing for an attack on him with seething eyes. Aizen smirked and said to himself, "Perfect…"_

_"Die you fucking bastard!!" he said, while swinging his sword down upon him._

_"No Ichigo, wait!!" Rukia shouted from the sidelines, launching her sword's 2nd dance towards them._

_Ichigo watched the incoming attack and dodged just in time Rukia's attack on Aizen took a fatal hit on the former Squad 5 Captain._

_It looked like the Soul Society finally won against Aizen and his band of Arrancars. All the remaining arrancar agreed to cooperate with the Soul Society._

_Unknowingly, Aizen had launched his final attack on the Kuchiki princess. Aizen had not died as they all thought. He was waiting for the right time to strike again using the final ability he had in his sleeve._

_Rukia, Ichigo and the others who fought against Aizen were welcomed back in the Soul Society as heroes._

_Aizen stood in their midst waiting._

* * *

"Captain Kuchiki, here are the reports that you wanted,' a girl from the 10th Squad said with a bow to the infamous Kuchiki Captain.

"Thanks Amari-chan." Rukia said as she sat down on her desk again. 5 years after the Winter War, she was promoted to Captain of the 5th Squad. She had achieved her bankai during the war and was able to master it in the span of 5 years. Though she was thoroughly surprised that she was able to much Hitsugaya, the resident genius of the Seireitei, she denounced it as skill and luck.

"Oi, Rukia! When are we going to take a break?" Ichigo asked as he looked at boring paper after another. Ichigo was offered a place in Gotei 13 as captain but denied to be part of it, though he agreed to be Rukia's vice captain after she had asked him.

"We'll get to that Ichigo, don't worry," the raven haired captain said to the impatient boy. "I just have to look at these reports from Hitsugaya-taichou."

Ichigo grumbled a bit but continued to do the work assigned to him. A few minutes later, Rukia motioned for him to get up and go.

"I'll stay around for a bit," she said when Ichigo asked if she would like to get something to eat. "I still have some business with Unohana-taichou." she said with a smile.

'Man, a few years as captain really got to her,' Ichigo thought as he walked away from the 5th Division to meet up with Renji who remained as vice-captain after the war.

Rukia on the other hand was worrying about the mark that had appeared on her neck. It looked like with a sort of eccentric design. Good thing her haori covered most of it.

**[a.n. for a better look at the mark look at my profile…]**

'I have to let Unohana-taichou have a look at this.' She thought as she touched the scorching hot mark. 'Why is it hot to touch?' she asked herself as she felt the heat. Finally, Rukia sighed and immediately went to the Squad 4 barracks.

"Ohayo, Rukia-taichou!" greeted Isane, Unohana's vice captain. "Is something wrong taichou?" she asked as she saw Rukia's worried face.

"O-oh, Good morning Isane-san." Rukia said shakily. "Actually I do have a problem. Could I speak to Unohana-taichou immediately?" Rukia said with a slight smile on her face.

Isane looked at the petite captain with worry on her face for a short second and readily agreed to get the Medic Captain.

'I hope it's nothing to serious.' Rukia thought as Isane went off to get Unohana. When she saw Unohana approaching with Isane in tow she suddenly felt a bit nervous.

'Why should I feel nervous?' she berated herself. 'It's only Captain Unohana.' She assured herself but to no avail.

"What seems to be the problem Kuchiki-taichou?" Unohana asked in a gentle voice. She looked at the young Captain with a gentle smile on her face.

"Actually, I have something you might want to have a look at." Rukia said in a small voice.

"Of course, captain," Unohana said with a smile. "Isane do you mind if you…" she didn't continue for her vice-captain had already left.

"Now, what seems to be the problem?" she asked with the same friendly smile.

"Well, it seems that I have developed some sort of…" she stopped when she pulled down the part of her haori covering the mark.

Unohana looked at it briefly and touched it. Rukia flinched at her cold touch but did not say anything else. She continued to look at it, all the while mumbling some complicated healing kidos around it. Then she sighed.

"When did this appear?" Unohana asked in a tired voice.

"A-about two days ago." Rukia said in the same small voice. "But it was a bit faded then." She added thinking this would be too important leave out.

"Hmm…well, I would suggest that you let Kurotsuchi-taichou have a look at it," she said with a slight smile. "It's unlike anything I've encountered and I'm sure Kurotsuchi-taichou would have the answers you need."

"Well…ahh…umm…maybe I'll go there tomorrow then." Rukia said with a slightly frightened expression on her face. "I'm sure Kurotsuchi-taichou is quite busy right know…" The 12th division captain was well known for dissecting anything that was unknown to him and Rukia DID NOT want to end up in his dissecting table.

"Don't worry taichou, I'll accompany you." The kind medic said. "How about tomorrow after the meeting, is that ok?" Again, she smiled at the fairly young captain.

Rukia smiled back with relief obvious on her face. "Very well, But I'll have to bring Ichigo." She laughed. "That idiot gets worried when I go missing." She shook her head in exasperation.

As Rukia walked back to her division quarters, the mark on her neck started to burn painfully than usual.

'Argh. Stupid, fucking mark. Making my already difficult life even more complicated.' She thought as she clutched the mark trying desperately to soothe the pain. When she touched the mark, it was burning hot. 'Man that's hot!' she thought as she thought of a way to cool it down.

"Oi Rukia!" a very obnoxious voice called to her. She'd know that voice even if she were asleep.

"What is it Ichigo?" she didn't even turn to look at him. The mark on her neck was still burning considerably.

Ichigo was a bit shocked at the venom in Rukia's voice. Normally she wouldn't get this angry till he stopped doing the paperwork and goofed around. "I was...uh...just wondering if you'd be getting back to the office now." He said with concern in his voice. "You see it's already noon and we'd have to finish the work by..." he trailed off when Rukia faced him. She looked like she had something on her mind.

"You go ahead Ichigo. I'll be there in a sec." she said and then turned his back on him, her hand still at her neck.

'Man, she really needs a vacation…' Ichigo thought as the petite captain sauntered away from him and went her way to the 5th Division barracks.

'Damn this stupid and painful mark!!' Rukia thought as she walked away from Ichigo. She was still rubbing the mark that burned painfully. When she had reached the barracks, the burning had finally stopped. She sighed with relief.

'Thank God. I probably would've gone crazy…' she exclaimed happily to herself as she sat down to finish her leftover paperwork.

Little did Rukia know that those horribly familiar brown eyes stared down at her and smiled evilly. Aizen looked down at her from his hiding place.

'It will be soon, Very soon. She will awaken.' Aizen said to himself and chuckled.

_Early next morning…_

The captain's meeting had already begun and Rukia stood beside her brother whom she had acknowledged with a simple 'Good Morning'. The pain of her mark had subsided and it no longer bothered her.

"Is everybody here then?" the captain commander asked with one stoic eyebrow raised. He looked around and noticed that one particularly short and black-haired captain looked a bit troubled and tired.

"Is everything alright Kuchiki Rukia-taichou?" the concerned old man asked. Ever since the young shinigami joined the ranks of captain, he had been overly protective of the young captain. It felt like something bad was about to happen to her and he hoped not. The Soul Society had not yet recovered from the previous war with Aizen and he did not want any trouble just yet.

All eyes turned to the Kuchiki princess as the commander said this. She blushed a deep scarlet color as she answered, "I-I'm quite fine commander. I just have a little…problem on my hands."

The commander looked at her with doubt etched all over his ancient face but he nevertheless accepted her answer. "Very well then," he finally said after giving the girl a final look in the eyes, "Let us start the meeting then,"

As the meeting went boringly on, the mark on her neck had flared up again. Her hand immediately shot up to her neck which she immediately tried to soothe by rubbing it. Unknown to her, she was being watched by a very curious Ichigo and an equally disturbed Unohana and Kurotsuchi-taichou. Apparently, the medic captain had already briefed the Research Department head on her…illness.

'Damn the stupid mark!' she cursed, 'Why today of all times?! Doesn't it know that I'm trying to concentrate?!' she tried to start cursing herself again when she heard a voice speak up.

'Why are you being like that Rukia-chan?' the creepy voice said. She looked around the room but saw no one that had the voice similarity.

'Maybe I'm going crazy…' she said to herself as the mark continued to burn horribly. 'God, why is my life like this?!' she asked to no one in particular.

'Tsk, tsk, Rukia-chan…' the awfully sweet voice said again. 'You know, talking to yourself isn't going to do you any good…' than the voice laughed until it faded into the distance.

'Thank God , it's gone…' she shivered. 'That voice was giving me the creeps…it sounded familiar though…' she said as the captain-commander dismissed them for the day.

Brown eyes stared down and seemed to doubt her own words. 'I doubt that Rukia-chan.' The voice said to itself.

After all the captains had filed outside Unohana and Kurotsuchi approached the extremely nervous Kuchiki captain.

"Are you ready Rukia?" Unohana said in a calm and sincere voice.

Not really finding the voice to speak out loud, Rukia nodded mutely and followed the 2 captains who had acknowledged her agreement by carefully walking to the famous 12th Squad barracks.


	2. Chapter 2

**SHINIGAMI**

**CHAPTER TWO**

**A/N: **I know. No need to tell me. You all hate me so much. So I'll just get on with it already. Hmm…I had already actually written this chapter but I wasn't able to type it yet. I hate myself.

Thank you for all those who reviewed and put this story in their favorites, alerts and etc. I'm sorry I won't be able to put your names separately. I hope you forgive me and still read and review.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. I did a little editing on the first chapter. All minor don't worry but I did change the time span of the end of the Winter War and Rukia's training (because it all seemed too fast for me, oh and someone, I forgot who, sorry, told me so. So, whoever you are (you know yourselves…) thanks so much! It'll be a little while after I publish this fic so…READ AND REVIEW! Sorry again for those who waited! T_T

**CHAPTER TWO**

_Start_

The raven-haired girl squirmed as the eccentric 12th Squad Captain touched and examined the mark on her neck. Thankfully he hadn't done anything disgusting or evil other than asking for some blood. Rukia winced when she remembered how he had taken it.

_Flashback_

"_Right then,let's get this infernal examination started so I can get back to my own experiments," the blue-haired captain said irritably_

_Unohana, Rukia and Ichigo managed to give small sighs and looked at the manic captain with unease._

'_I just hope I get out of this alive,' Rukia thought as she unconsciously rubbed the mark again as it burned uncomfortably hot._

'_I'll kill him if he does anything fishy,' Ichigo seethed as he eyed the 12__th__ Division Captain haughtily as the man continued to search fervently for something. Then, the said captain hollered for Nemu to get something._

_The kindly captain let her eyes wander for a minute on the young Kuchiki's small form. They narrowed when she saw that she was again trying to soothe the burning pain of the mark. Truthfully she was surprised to feel, during her own examination, that the girl's skin was abnormally hot despite the fact that the she wielded an ice type zanpakuto._

"_Aha! Here it is!" said a voice that made them all snap out of their reverie and jump with surprise. In front of them, the crazy captain waved around a large syringe that did not look like that it should be used for surgical uses. _

'_Hey, that thing looks like the one I saw that vet insert into that dog when Inoue had summer job there once…' Rukia thought with disdain. _

_Then she remembered what it was what that vet used it for._

"_Holy crap! Don't you dare put that thing in me! Those're used for animals aren't they? Why are you using those?" Rukia shouted at him obviously scared out of her wits._

"_Now, now Kuchiki-taichou." Mayuri cooed, "There isn't any reason to be afraid," He advanced toward Rukia, brandishing the needle like a mad scientist. His grin widened and told her wordlessly that 'humans were animals to so why bother?'_

"_O-oi! What the hell are you gonna do with that?" Ichigo asked, enraged while pointing an accusing finger at Mayuri and the syringe itself._

_The 12__th__ Division cocked his head toward him and regarded him with annoyance, "It's obviously to collect a blood sample you stupid simpleton." He said as he rolled his eyes at Ichigo who was fuming at being called a 'simpleton' "But I don't expect that someone of your brain capacity to be able to understand something so simple," With that said, he turned around and continued to move toward the Kuchiki Princess._

_Ichigo, obviously fuming at the comment of his brain capacity, advanced toward Mayuri and Rukia intending to kill the 'blue headed, white faced bastard'. "Get away from her you mad man!" he said about to grab the scientist by the back of his haori when he was stopped by binding bakudo. Confused, he turned toward Unohana, whom he thought was the only other person in the room with him other than Mayuri and Rukia, but she just smiled at him._

"_Look behind you Kurosaki-san," the healer said with an eerie smile. Unnerved, Ichigo did as she told him to. His anger quickly rose seeing the person who bound him with kido._

"_Damnit Nemu! Let me go!" he said as thrashed against the Bakudo #61 that seemed unbreakable._

"_Sumimasen, Kurosaki-san but Mayuri-sama has instructed me to keep you from interfering in his experiment." She said whilst staring at him with a blank look. "And I wouldn't bother struggling to get out Kurosaki-san because I have also bound you from using your reiatsu to breaking out," she added with a tiny (evil) smile._

_Ichigo growled at her but stopped struggling because he knew he could do nothing. Instead, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "RUKIA YOU BAKA! RUN ALREADY!"_

"_Nemu! Keep that Neanderthal tied up until finish up here." The crazy scientist said with a creepy smile that clearly said, 'When I finish here, you're next and I'll keep experimenting on you 'til you turn into shit' Ichigo visibly shuddered when he saw this. _

_Rukia, snapping out of her shock at seeing a freakishly huge syringe, started to back off from the man who was almost near enough to stab her with the weapon of death. "There is no fucking way you are going to stick that thing anywhere in my body!" she exclaimed in a surprisingly strong voice though her eyes crazy and wide with fright. _

_Mayuri, who was not pleased with her outburst, tsked and said, "Come now, princess. I just have to get some blood and we're finished here," Somehow, with the way he smiled at her, Rukia didn't believe a word he said and still continued to back away._

_It wasn't 'til she felt resistance in her efforts of escape that she finally snapped. With her hand on the hilt of her sword, she spun around with the intent of killing the person who dared get in her way of escaping. But when she saw the kind smile and white haori, she immediately relaxed and removed her hand from her sword._

"_o-oh. It's just you Unohana-taichou. I thought it was someone else," she said in a shaky voice, afraid that it might have been Nemu who had stopped her. "I'm sorry Unohana-taicho for all the trouble but I'm leaving." She tried to push past the kindly captain but her efforts were in vain when she felt a bakudo restrain her._

"_I'm sorry Rukia-san but you must allow Kurotsuchi-taicho do his job," she said with a smile. The said man only smiled harder when he heard his fellow captain agree to his crazy demand._

'_WHY THAT TRAITOR! I OUGHT TO-' Rukia thought with as much venom in her mind as she can and proceeded to curse the gods that put her in this situation. So as not to show any disrespect to the captain, she opted to glare at the floor hoping that hole would burn through, considering the intensity of her stare._

_The healer, as if able to read Rukia's mind and her glaring which was covered by her jet black hair, kneeled down to look at the girl. Rukia, sensing the taicho, raised her head but immediately regretted this action._

_The healer looked at her with a (menacing) smile on her face and said in a fairly even voice, "Kuchiki-taicho, if you want to resolve this problem of yours in the shortest amount of time possible, I would suggest that you comply with Kurotsuchi-taicho's demands so as not to delay your problem any longer. Is that clear?" Her smile never faded from her face._

_Seeing this totally freaked Rukia out in to submitting without any other objections of any kind, "H-hai Unohana-taichou,"she muttered while mournfully remebering the most memorable days of her life. 'I'm soo dead,' Rukia thought morbidly as she prepared for her death by needles._

_Satisfied with the young captain's response, she slowly stood up, released the bakudo restraining the girl and motioned for the other taicho to proceed with whatever horrible things he was going to do to the younger woman._

_Rukia gulped audibly while Kurotsuchi approached with the needle taunting her. 'Just let me die, damnit!' she thought with remorse and closed her eyes, waitng._

_Meanwhile in the Kuchiki estate, Kuchiki Byakuya, captain of the 6__th__ Squad and sister to another captain in the 13 Court Guard Squads, was enjoying his tea with his faithful vice captain, Abarai Renji who, coincidentally, was the oldest and one of the closest friends to said sister of the nobleman. They sat under a cherry blossom tree and near a koi pond. The petals were falling from the trees, creating a scene that was too perfect for the current timing._

"_It certainly is peaceful today." Byakuya said emotionlessly, his eyes clearly enjoying the view of the trees in his personal garden and watching his large koi jump around their sanctuary._

_Renji, who almost fell asleep with sheer boredom since tree watching was not his favorite hobby, was about to affirm his captain's comment when he heard a pitiful cry of agony._

"_**HOLY MOTHER OF #*$!^&*#!"**_

_At that he jolted to attention and glanced at his captain. "That sounded like Rukia, captain…" he started but regretted saying it because his taicho would not appreciate hearing Rukia swear like a hardy sailor. She was after all a noble and nobles do __**NOT**__ swear._

_But Kuchiki Byakuya said nothing to him and appeared to not have heard the screaming. He glanced at Renji and quipped, "I heard nothing Renji. You must be imagining things." _

_Renji stared at his captain for a while but eventually relinquished and growled, "Guess you're right Cap'n.." He closed his eyes after that comment hopping to get a few more minutes of sleep before they started on their paperwork again._

_Because of this, he did not see the corners of Kuchiki Byakuya's mouth twitch into his own version of a smile and he chuckled inwardly at his sister's predicament._

_Sadistic bastard._

_Flashback End_

"According to my intitial examinations, there seems to be nothing wrong with you, Kuchiki-taicho even from your blood samples." The captain said after poking and prodding Rukia for the billionth time that day.

"What about the insignia on her neck?" Ichigo asked with a scowl. He was till obviously not happy with Kurotsuchi's comments.

The mad man turned to look at him and smiled, "It was nothing like I've ever seen before." He said while turning back to gigantic computer with unknown runes flashing on the screen "Soul Society's records show nothing either."

"Well, anyway thank you for your time Kurotsuchi-taicho." Unohana finally said with a smile. Rukia, although still quite traumatized, also managed a small smile and a quiet thank you. Hearing nothing from Ichigo though, she decided to hit him inconspicuously in the side.

"Yeah thanks,"Ichigo said still clutching his side in pain. 'You blue headed bastard…' he added in his head while and his hollow thought of a hundred and one ways of killing the man.

Nemu returned to them and escorted them out of the laboratory. By the Ichigo was shouting up to the sky how he was going to kill the eccentric captain. Rukia tired of all the noise immediately punched him in the jaw and ran way laughing. Ichigo, of course chased after her and then tackled her to the ground with a little tickle fight. Unohana stood by and watched the two lovebirds make a fool out of each other which is what they usually do to themselves.

"My, my love sure is a wondrous thing for the young," she said to nobody in particular. But apparently, the two lovebirds heard this and immediately turned as red as Reniji's hair.

"WE ARE NOT IN LOVE!" they said in unison whilst standing up from their previously compromising position.

But the crazy healer just smiled and turned to Rukia with a mischievous smile, "At the rate you two are going Kuchiki-san, I would suggest that you setup an appointment with me. I understand you are still a vir-"

"I-I'm sure that is unnecessary Unohana-taicho because Ichigo and I are NOT like that," Rukia interrupted for hers and Ichigo's sake. She was still too young to be talking about stuff like that. Though Rukia's mind sufficiently added, 'Yet.' Rukia growled at this.

"Well if you say so Kuchiki-san," the captain said but turned to Ichigo instead saying, "How about you Kurosaki-san? I'm sure Squad 4 can provide you numerous _materials_. Would you like a co-"

"NO!" Ichigo said with a red face. "I-I mean Rukia and I are not having any sexual relationship." He amended not wanting to appear rude to the captain.

"**That's yet King," **his hollow said with a chuckle **"We all know that you've wanted to tap that,"** which prompted Ichigo to beat the bastard up.

"If you both say so then," Unohana interrupted Ichigo's musings, "But please do not hesitate to come to the 4th Division for a little learning on this matter." She ended and turned and walked away leaving Ichigo and Rukia in the awkwardness of the situation.

Kurotsuchi Mayuri on the other hand went back to work immediately after he felt the three reiatsu leave the compound.

"Mayuri-sama, the sample that you had me prepare is ready." Nemu said blankly

Grinning sadistically he turned to look at the blood sample provided to him by the Kuchiki Princess.

'Hmm…it seems as though the young noble has provided us with a challenge,' he thought as lifted the vial up and looked at it in the light. He then noticed something strange in the blood which was not seen during his initial examination.

_Something within the blood was moving._

"Mayuri-sama it seems as if the black mass was merging with the host's reiatsu with something else," Nemu said robotically "It was not observed before we added the spiritron*." She added.

He said nothing to the girl but continued to observe the black substance thrashing about the container in an effort to escape. It moved around the red viscous blood and writhed violently against the vial that it shook.

But then it stopped, suspended in the blood as if it died. Kurotsuchi was about to dismiss that the substance somehow 'died' when the substance suddenly evaporated.

The substance had actually 'exploded' and thereby merging with the reiatsu the blood had provided altering the reiatsu signature of the original.

The mad scientist's eyes widened when he felt the reiatsu change into a pattern which was inherently familiar to all shinigami especially since after the Winter War

"Nemu, put the vial in container DDM-41159** and inform Unohana and the Kuchiki bout this development" he said hurriedly, putting down the container and rushing to his computer to research on this matter.

"But Mayuri-sama, DDM-41159 high class, high threat level containment facility. Are-" Nemu began but felt the reason why her creator was rushing to do things.

"I know what I said stupid girl! Do as I say!" Mayuri said angrily. 'This is interesting indeed.' He thought as he typed on to his keyboard. 'I must know more!' he added with a sadistic smile on his face.

Nemu observed the vial once more, understanding why her father was rushing and acting crazier than usual.

_The sample had turned eerily black and was emanating an evil aura with a reiatsu signature inherently familiar to her._

_Aizen._

Spiritron*- Yeah, I just took that from Urahara's spiritron converter cause I kninda needed a scientific word and I couldn't think of anything else.

DDM-41159**- That's not really a containment facility okay. That's actually my course code and my student number. Virtual cookies to anyone who can tell me what my course actually is. :D

Oh before you read and review, tell me how you feel about another Bleach story? It's a crossover this time with Percy Jackson series. This is what I was doing the whole summer cause I was entranced by the movie and I've always been fascinated with Greek History. Tell me in your reviews ok? If you don't like it then mybe I'll post it in my deviantart. I already have 2 and a half chapters waiting to be typed for this.

READ AND REVIEW!


End file.
